A Review of Stephen Ambrose's Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors

Stephen E. Ambrose’s Crazy Horse and Custer: the Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors compares the lives of the two men, from childhood, until the climactic moment for both: the Battle of Little Bighorn, June 25, 1876.  For Crazy Horse, the battle was a great victory; for Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer, Lieutenant Colonel of the 7^th Cavalry, it was more than a defeat – his entire unit was annihilated.  Although Ambrose gives an overview of the events that transpired at the Little Bighorn that day, the focus of the book is clearly elsewhere.  He presents a description of the cultures that gave rise to both men, and describes both their personal lives and their lives as warriors and leaders.  Ambrose reaches into the past and retrieves the personalities of the long-dead men at the center of the Great Sioux War, clearly showing what motivated each man but also showing the shortcomings that led to the early deaths that awaited both.